Get in the Game!

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Get in the Game!

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iscover how to research, meet the right industry people, access nadvertised job market, sell yourself, create the perfect demo, b he competition, handle interviews, and negotiate a salary packag Pre-Publication Galley Proof

Get in the Game!

CAREERS IN THE GAME INDUSTRY

Marc Mencher

201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46290 An Imprint of Pearson Education Boston • Indianapolis • London • Munich • New York • San Francisco 00_3073 FM 9/4/02 12:29 PM Page ii

Publisher GET IN THE GAME: CAREERS IN THE GAME David Dwyer INDUSTRY Associate Publisher  Stephanie Wall Copyright 2003 by New Riders Publishing Editor in Chief All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval Chris Nelson system, or transmitted by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without written permission from the publisher, except Production Manager Gina Kanouse for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Managing Editor International Standard Book Number: 0-7357-1307-3 Kristy Knoop Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002103198 Acquisitions Editor Printed in the United States of America Jody Kennen First edition: October 2002 Senior Marketing Manager 06 05 04 03 02 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Tammy Detrich Interpretation of the printing code: The rightmost double-digit number is the Publicity Manager year of the book’s printing; the rightmost single-digit number is the number of Susan Nixon the book’s printing. For example, the printing code 02-1 shows that the first Senior Development printing of the book occurred in 2002. Editor Jennifer Eberhardt Trademarks Copy Editor All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service Kelli Brooks marks have been appropriately capitalized. New Riders Publishing cannot attest Senior Indexer to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be Cheryl Lenser regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Composition Jeff Bredenstiener Warning and Disclaimer Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as Manufacturing possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied. The information is provided on Coordinator an as-is basis. The authors and New Riders Publishing shall have neither liabil- Jim Conway ity nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages Book Designer arising from the information contained in this book or from the use of the CD Aren Howell or programs that may accompany it. Cover Designer Beverly Cambron Aren Howell

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CONTENTS AT A GLANCE Part I Industry Background 1 Introduction to the Gaming Industry 5 2 Common Tools of the Trade 15 Part II Careers in Gaming 3 Playability, Testing, and Quality Assurance (QA) 25 4 Designers 41 5 Programmers 63 6 Artists 93 7 Producers 119 Part III Preparing for the Career You Want 8 Getting Organized and Networking 147 9 Preparing Your Demo 161 10 Your Résumé, Pitch, and References 173 Part IV Getting the Career You Want 11 Deploying Your Resume and Scoring an Interview 205 12 Interviewing 215 13 Salary Negotiation 223 14 Working with Recruiters 235 15 Staying Employed 241 Part V Resources A Resources 247 Index 271

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I Industry Background 1 Introduction to the Gaming Industry 5

In the Beginning A Brief History Lesson 5

Game Genres 10 Action 10 Strategy 10 Role Playing Games (RPGs) 11 Adventure 11 Puzzles 11 Sports 11 Simulations 12 Kids, Family, and Edutainment 12 Hybrids 12

Industry Structure 12 Publishers 12 Developers 12 Hardware Manufacturers 13

Game Development Process 13

2 Common Tools of the Trade 15

Business Applications Software 15

Programming Languages 16 C16 C++ 16 Visual Basic 17 Java 17 Assembly 17

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3D: Animation and Modeling Software 18 3D Studio Max by Discreet 19 Maya by Alias|Wavefront 19 SoftImage by Avid 19 LightWave by NewTek 9

2D: Bitmap and Vector-Based Graphics Software 20 Adobe Photoshop and Others 20 Adobe Illustrator 20

Part II Careers in Gaming

3 Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) 25

Testing Versus QA 26 Beta Tester 26 Playability Testing 26 Black Box Testing Versus White Box Testing 27 Quality Assurance 28 Traditional Software QA Versus Games QA 31 Automated Testing for Games 32

Typical Job Titles and Focus 33 Temporary Playability Tester 33 Compatibility Tester 33 Lead Tester or Game Analyst 34 Game Tester or Analyst 35 Supervisor/Manager 36 QA Engineer 36 QA Supervisor/Manager or Director 37 QA Supervisor/Manager or Director—Years Experience: 6-15 37

Tools of the Trade 37 College Knowledge 37 Know the Genre 37 Strong Grammar and Writing Skills 38 v 00_3073 FM 9/4/02 12:29 PM Page vi

Database Software 38 Know How to Create a Test Plan 38 Microsoft Excel 39 Scripting Languages 39 Programming Languages 39 Compatibility Testing 39

Wrap-Up 39

4 Designers 41

Typical Job Titles and Focus 42 Interface Designer 42 Level Designer/World Builders 44 Lead Level Designer 46 Game Designer 46 Lead Game Designer 47 Director of Game Design 49

Tools of the Trade 51

The Tools and Skills You’ll Need 52

The Design Document 53 Creating a Design Document 53

Experiment with As Many Different Genres As You Can 62

5 Programmers 63

You Love Games and Possess a Noted Knack for the Technical, So, Where Do You Sign Up? 64

Typical Job Titles and Focus 65 Associate/Junior Programmer 65 Engine and Tools Programmer 66 Graphics Game Programmer 66 Networking Programmer 66

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) Programmer 66 Audio Programmer 67 Miscellaneous Programmer Positions 67

Overview of Programmer Responsibilities 67 Game Programmer 67 Project Lead/Lead Programmer 69 Technology Director 72 Development Director or VP of Development 74 Development Director 74

Tools of the Trade 75 The Tools You’ll Need 76 Popular Programming Languages 79 Popular Operating Systems 79 Gaming Platforms 81

How to Get There 83 Skill Levels 83 Education 87 Ideal Programmer Qualities 91

6 Artists 93

Typical Job Titles and Focus 94 Art Director 95 Lead Artist 96 Lead Animator 98 Lead Concept/Storyboard Artist 100 2D Artist 100 3D Artist 101 Character Animator 102 Environment Modeler 103 Skins Artist 103

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Texture Artist 103 Cinematics Artist 103 Package Design and Marketing Artist 103

Tools and Skills You’ll Need 104 Artistic Abilities 104

The Art Production Pipeline 105 Concept Phase 105 Prototype Phase 106 Full Production Phase 107 Modeling 108 Texturing 110 Animating 111 GUI—Interface Design 112 Art Integration—Putting All of the Art Assets Together 113

How to Get There 114 Education 114 The Skills You’ll Need 114 Define a Career Goal and Prepare Yourself 116 Marketing Your Talent to the World 116 Landing a Job and What Happens Next 117

7 Producers 119

Job Titles and Focus 120 Executive Producer 120 Producer 122 Associate Producer 123

Tools and Skills You’ll Need 125 The “Double Check” Technique 125 Tools of the Trade: A Simple and Effective Project Tracking Worksheet 128

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Demonstrating Your Abilities 130 Finance 131

The ABCs of Running a Development Project 131 The Concept and Selling It to Management 131 The Development Company and Team 134 Pre-Production: Design, Technical Design, and Playable Prototype 136 The Development Schedule and Milestone Descriptions 136 Full Production: Tracking Progress 139 Keeping the Team Happy Through the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 140

Calling Potential Problems to the Table Early 140

Part III Preparing for the Career You Want

8 Getting Organized and Networking 147

Getting Organized 148 Using a Database 148 Targeting Your Search and Gathering Leads 149

The Way HR Departments Really Work 150

Job Hunting Is Like Selling Anything—It’s a Number’s Game 151

Your Personalized Networking Campaign 152 Networking—It’s Just Focused Socializing. Do It for Life. 152 Enroll People in Your Life Goals. Use a One-Minute Pitch. 153 Cold Calling or Contacting 156 Begin Networking Now! 156

Wrap-Up 159

9 Preparing Your Demo 161

Getting Your Demo Together 162 Your Demo Must Capture Interest and Amaze the Viewer Immediately 162

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Think Ahead of Time About the Impression You Are Trying to Make 162 Show Your Best Stuff First and End It There 163 Credit Everything You Use 164 Create Original Content 164 Use the Internet to Display Your Work 164

Keep Copies of Everything You Do 165

Regularly Update Your Demo 165

Creating Your Demo 166 Level Designer and Game Designer Demos 166 Game Programmer Demos 168 Game Artist Demos 169

Putting It All Together 171

10 Your Résumé, Pitch, and References 173

Writing Your Résumé 173 Present Your Skills in a Way to Capture the Attention of the Reader 174 Forget the One-Page Résumé Rule 174 Instead of an Objective Statement Use a Bulleted Summary of Skills, Accomplishments, or Benefits 175 Your Selling Points 175 Non-Industry Experience 177 Use a Clean Font such as Arial or Times New Roman 177 No Fancy Shmancy 177 Be Bold with Discretion 177 Tell the Whole Truth—Nothing but the Truth? 178 Accomplishments: What You Can Do for a Company Gets Attention 180

Sample Résumés 181

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Securing Solid References Before You Need Them 198 Don’t Burn Bridges 198 Stay in Touch 199 The Reference Checklist 199

Part IV Getting the Career You Want

11 Deploying Your Resume and Scoring an Interview 205 Responding to Classified Ads and Online Job Boards or Postings 206 Don’t Lose Control of Who Has Your Resume 208

Creative and Wacky Ways to Get Attention 208 Targeted Job Hunt Campaign 210 Follow Up by Telephone, not Just Email 210

Creating Your Cover Email and One-Minute Pitch 211 The Email Structure 211

12 Interviewing 215

Interviewing Tips 216 Smile. Be Enthusiastic. And Get There Early. 216 Bring an Extra Copy of Your Résumé and Any Interview Props You Can Use 216 Complete the Application in Detail. Be Truthful. 216 Dress Professionally 217 Take an Active Part and Set the Tone in the Interview 217 Interact and React. And Don’t Smoke. 217 Ask Meaningful Questions About the Position 217 Answer Questions by Speaking in Terms of the Position. Emphasize What You Can Do for the Company. 217 If You Want the Job, Close the Interview by Asking for It! 217 Discuss Salary After the Employer Mentions a Figure 218 Say “Thank You” in Person and in Writing 218

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Suggested Interview Questions 218 Questions to Ask During an Interview 219

Questions to Ask at the End of an Interview 219

Tough Interview Questions You May Face 219

Not Only Is the Company Interviewing You, You’re Interviewing the Company 220

Turning Interviews into Offers 220 During the First Interview 221 Following Up After the Interview 221

Wrap-Up 222

13 Salary Negotiation 223

Improving Your Negotiating Skills 224 Preparing for Negotiation 225 Understand Your Skills and Their Worth 226

Evaluating Extended Job Offers 226 Salary, Benefits, and Perks—The Meat and Potatoes 227 Assessing the Game Company 230 Assessing the Position 231

Salary Survey 231 Methodology 231 Cost of Living 231

Wrap-Up 233

14 Working with Recruiters 235

Why Newbies Should Not Use Recruiters 236

Why Industry Professionals Should Use Recruiters 236 Avoid Wasting Time 236 Leap Over the HR Pile 237

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Benefit from Honest Feedback and Savvy Spin Control 237 Reap the Rewards of Inside Information 237 Enjoy a Higher Salary and Better Employment Package 238 Benefit from Long-Term Career Management 238

So, Why Do Some Recruiters Have Bad Reputations? 238 Creation of a Professional and Effective Presentation Package 238 Creation of a Job Search Strategy 239 Complete Job Description and Company Education 239 Feedback and Constant Communication 239 Preparation for an Interview 239 Support and Negotiation 240 Relocation and Continued Communication 240

15 Staying Employed 241

Be a Team Player 241

Nothing Lasts Forever, But You’ll Be Ready 242

Day One of Your New Job Should Also Be Day One of Your New Informal Job Search 242

Part V Resources

A Resources 247

Index 271

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marc Mencher—Game Recruiter Gone Wild! Marc Mencher worked for game companies such as Spectrum Holobyte, Microprose, and 3DO before starting GameRecruiter.com (www.GameRecruiter.com), a game industry-recruiting firm. Marc served as President, and later as an advising board member, of the International Game Developers Network. He has spoken and held roundtables at several Game Developers Conferences and is a regular speaker at International Game Developers Association (IGDA) events around the coun- try. In addition to representing the game industry’s hottest talent, Marc also vol- unteers his time as a career coach for graduates from Full Sail Real World Education, helping them land their first game industry jobs. His articles have been featured in GIGnews.com, Gamasutra, and GameWEEK. Currently, Marc is working with the IGDA (www.IGDA.com) on chapter development and with Games-Florida (www.gamesflorida.com), a non-profit organization formed with the intent of nurturing and expanding the interactive multi-media industry in the state of Florida. He is also Technical Advisor and Executive Producer for the recently released PC Adventure Game Watchmaker. Marc is working on the release of the PC Adventure Game Tony Tough and The Night of the Roasted Months (PC) and an Action Shooter Tsunami 2265 (PC and PS2), all published by Got Game Entertainment (www.GotGameEntertainment.com). Prior to joining the game industry, Marc was the Producer/Project Lead on an $11M joint AI research project funded by the United States Air Force in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, General Electric, and Pratt Whitney Aircraft Engine Group.

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This book is dedicated to Howard, my life partner and best friend.

And to my little bro Kenney, who always has my back—www.Kenney-Mencher.com. And to my mom, Helen—from Charlotte’s Web till now…who knew? And to Al and Elaine, in your presence I feel reborn.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Beverly Cambron of Rocco Media (www.RoccoMedia.com), thanks for keeping me sane! Howard Horowitz and Got Game Entertainment (www.GotGameEntertainment.com), for use of assets from PC Adventure Game Watchmaker, PC Adventure Game Tony Tough and The Night of the Roasted Months, and an Action Shooter Tsunami 2265 (PC and PS2). My heartfelt thanks to everyone who had a part in the creation of this book: Dustin Clingman, Matt Scibilia, Will Wright, Sanjay Balakrishnan, William Anderson, Troy Dunniway, Evan Birkby, Perry Rodgers, Andrew Paquette, Rick Reynolds, Melanie Cambron, Murray Taylor, Bran Kelly, David Perry, Randy Beverly, Ray Boylan, Brett Close, Paul LeFevre, Paul Steed, William Wetherill, Jason Spangler, Eric Yiskis, Eni Oken and her students Gunilla Elam, Madeleine Wettstein, Kim Oravecz, Molly Barr, and Mary Degnan, Jennifer Eberhardt, Jody Kennen, Stephanie Wall, Kristy Knoop, and the team at Full Sail Real World Education (www.FullSail.com).

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TELL US WHAT YOU THINK As the reader of this book, you are the most important critic and commentator. We value your opinion and want to know what we’re doing right, what we could do better, what areas you’d like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass our way. As the Associate Publisher for New Riders Publishing, I welcome your comments. You can fax, email, or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books stronger. When you write, please be sure to include this book’s title, ISBN, and author, as well as your name and phone or fax number. I will carefully review your comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the book. Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book, and that due to the high volume of email I receive, I might not be able to reply to every message. Fax: 317-581-4663 Email: [email protected] Mail: Stephanie Wall Associate Publisher New Riders Publishing 201 West 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290 USA

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Preface

When I first got into the game industry, a formal education was essentially frowned upon. Quite frankly, it was feared that any creative juices would be all but sucked out of you by the time you earned your “establishment” degree. Many industry pioneers equated having formal training with being “assimilated by the Borg.” In those days, gamers were the unruly ones, people who did not quite fit the norm. Hands-on game development experience, or an ability to demonstrate your creativity, was the only qualifying factor for getting a job. Today, these are still very important qualities, but as games have grown more complex, and as game development budgets have ballooned to the multimillion- dollar range, game professionals are more formally trained and, certainly, better respected. In short, the unruly ones have grown up. 01_3073 Pref 9/3/02 1:24 PM Page xx

Preface

The inspiration for this book came from the thousands of emails I receive asking the same daunting question: “How do I get a gig in the game industry?” I wish I possessed a single simple, and magical, answer; alas, I do not. However, based on my years of developing the careers of some of the industry’s brightest AUTHOR NOTE stars, what I do possess are proven job-getting techniques. If you take these tech- “We’re not just geeks in dark niques seriously, and apply them appropriately, you will not only land that game basements wearing weird job, but you will also be placed firmly on a career development track that will clothes anymore.We’re geeks in dark basements wearing take you to the height of your aspirations. weird clothes and making Through my recruiting firm, GameRecruiter.com, I have placed thousands of money doing it!” people in game industry jobs. I have witnessed the astonishing growth of this - Marc industry as it has grown, in both size and stature. I’ve also witnessed the increasing number of people wanting to work in it. If you are one of those people—or maybe you’re an industry veteran in need of a career “refresher”—this is the book for you. In this book, you’ll learn the various types of game jobs available in the industry, what the game companies are looking for, and how you can get the job you want. It is my sincere hope that when you finish this book, and if you apply the principles found in it, you should be well on your way to a successful career. Throughout your job search, try to remember that YOUR thoughts about YOUR career and life direction will create YOUR destiny, so be careful about what you think. In short, stay focused and positive! And, remember, my virtual door at [email protected] is always open should you need additional advice or direction. Good Luck and Get in the Game! Marc Mencher

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Chapter Name

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Head From Bottom of Page Part I Industry Backgorund Images courtesy of Molly Barr

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Chapter 1 Introduction to the Gaming Industry

Knowing some history of the game industry will help greatly in your quest to become a professional in this business. To be taken seriously by other gamers, you will need a basic knowledge of the industry’s evolution. This chapter provides a brief (very brief) history of the industry, beginning with the birth of SEGA and noting, in particular, milestones in hardware development. This chapter also includes an overview of the various game genres, the key businesses within the industry, and the development process.

IN THE BEGINNING—A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON Originally an American company providing coin-operated, or arcade, games primarily for military bases, SEGA began life as Services Games. After purchas- ing a Japan-based machine company in the early 1960s, the company trans- formed itself into SEGA. During this same time, an industry founding father, Nolan Bushnell, designed an arcade version of Asteroids to play on his newly developed dedicated game machine. Thus was born the first cartridge-based game system, introduced to the market as VCS, and later known as the Atari 2600. During this era, other companies created other game systems, including Coleco (Colecovision), Milton Bradley Electronics (Microvision, Vectrex), Mattel Electronics (Intellivision), and Commodore Computer (Commodore 64), all of whom had impact, but eventually left the scene. 03_3073 CH01 9/3/02 1:29 PM Page 6

Introduction to the Gaming Industry Although not a dominating force until the mid–1980s when it caught the attention of the American gaming community with the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo was actually founded in 1889 and is, historically speaking, the oldest game company. Atari and SEGA competed head to head with Nintendo, but the company proved a worthy opponent with the release of Game Boy and the smashing success of the Super Nintendo (SNES). Over the next few years, the unfolding battle witnessed SEGA’s release of Sega Master System to compete against NES, and Atari’s release of the 7800. Commodore Computer also entered the fray with the CDTV. Although the TurboGrafx-16, SEGA Genesis, www.atari.com and Atari Lynx machines tried to compete, Nintendo ultimately stole the bulk of the market share. Thanks to its portability and associated free games Tetris and Super Mario, Game Boy sales were significant. When Sony entered the scene, the 32-bit console wars began. Initially, Sony and Nintendo collaborated on the development of a CD player to work with the SNES. Although this development project failed, it gave Sony an idea. The company chose to develop a 32-bit game machine known as PlayStation (PSX) to compete directly with Nintendo. Among other notable competitors who jumped on the 32-bit bandwagon was The 3DO Company, started by Electronic Arts (EA) founder Trip Hawkins, who announced his new 32-bit gaming console in association with Panasonic. www.nintendo.com However, Panasonic eventually acquired the 3DO technology for use in other devices.

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In the Beginning— A Brief History Lesson Trying to reclaim lost market share, Atari then introduced its doomed 64-bit system called Jaguar. By the late 90s, the market was totally confused as evi- denced by alarmingly sluggish sales. SEGA 32X and Saturn came and went, and Nintendo bombed with a few platform releases as well. Eventually, Atari was forced out of the hardware business. Currently, the industry’s popular development platforms are the Personal Computer (PC), Sony’s PlayStation 2, Microsoft’s XBox, and Nintendo’s GameCube and Game Boy Advanced (GBA). The market for PDAs and mobile phones is also gaining momen- tum and promises to be the next growth focus. These products will also have online multi- player capabilities. Today, we have Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft competing for market share. SEGA is still creating games but has chosen to halt production of hardware. Atari chose this same path years ago when they stopped making hardware. Does SEGA face the same fate Atari did? Will you contribute to the con- tinuation of this story?

www.scea.com

www.xbox.com

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Introduction to the Gaming Industry Time Line Year Significant Games Developed That Year Platforms Introduced or Further Developed That Year (Games developed that year were not necessarily played on these platforms.) 1961 Spacewar developed by MIT student on mainframe computer. 1972 Atari’s Pong Magnavox Odyssey. (arcade version). 1974 Atari’s Pong (home version). 1977 Atari VCS/2600. 1978 Taito (Japan). Bally Professional Midway (America). Arcade and Space Invaders (Arcade). Magnavox Odyssey2.

1979 Namco’s Galaxian, which gave Mattel Intellivision way in 1981 to its sequel, and Milton Bradley Galaga.Capcom’s 1984 Microvision. release of 1942 used the same pattern as Galaxian. 1980 Pac-Man (arcade). Infocom’s Zork. Berkeley students’ Rogue (BSD UNIX). 1981 Galaxian gives way to its Emerson Arcadia 2001. sequel, Galaga. 1982 Namco’s Pole Position ColecoVision Atari 5200 (arcade) (point of view), and Milton Bradley which inspired Midway’s Rush Vectrex. and Namco’s Ridge Racer series. 1984 Namco’s 1942. Atari 7800. 1985 Super Mario Bros. (NES), Nintendo Entertainment which inspired Donkey Kong. System (NES) Capcom’s Commando and Sega Master (arcade), which inspired System. Ikari, Warriors, Mercs, Time Soldiers, Heavy Barrel, Guerrila War, Jackal, Gun Smoke, Irem’s, Kung Fu Master, and Renegade. 1987 Technos Japan Corp.’s Nintendo Entertainment Double Dragon (arcade), System (NES) and which inspired Capcom’s Sega Master System. Final Fight, as well as 1993’s Dungeons and Dragons: Tower of Doom and 1994’s Aliens vs. Predators. Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda and Tetris developed by Alexey Pajitnov. Copyright mistakes allowed several 8 03_3073 CH01 9/3/02 1:30 PM Page 9

In the Beginning— A Brief History Lesson companies—Nintendo, Atari, and Spectrum Holobyte—to publish versions of the game and resulted in legal battles. 1988-1989 Tetris released as the Atari Lynx flagship title for Nintendo’s (Portable), handheld video game console, Nintendo Game Boy the Game Boy which spawns the (Portable), later releases of Atari’s NEC TurboGraphix-16, Klax and Capcom’s Super and Sega Genesis. Puzzle Fighter II. Dragon Warrior (NES), which spawned Final Fantasy and other Role Playing Games (RPGs). 1991-1992 Capcom’s Street Fighter II Super Nintendo (arcade). Entertainment System, Sega’s Virtua Racing (arcade). Sega CD (System add-on Doom for Genesis), NEC SimCity TurboDuo, and Philips CD-I. 1993-1994 Dungeons and Dragons: Tower Panasonic 3D0 of Doom (scroll and punch). and Atari Jaguar. Aliens vs. Predator. Namco’s Ridge Racer. Myst. 1995 Infogrames’ Alone in the Sega Saturn, Dark (PC). Sony PlayStation, Namco’s Tekken. and Nintendo VirtualBoy (Portable). 1996-1997 Capcom’s Resident Evil Nintendo 64. (PlayStation). Sony’s Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64). Sony’s Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation). 1998 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. 1999 Sony’s Gran Turismo 2. Dreamcast. Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. 2000 Sony’s Gran Turismo 3 (PS2). PlayStation 2. 2001 Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 2 Xbox. (PS2). GameCube. Game Boy Advance. Dreamcast production is ceased.

2002 Rock Star Games’ Grand Theft Auto III (PC).

Sources: The History of Videogames, Gamespot (www.gamespot.com); A Brief History of Home Videogames, Samuel Nils Hart (www.geekcomix.com); The Videogame Timeline, Net4TV (www.net4tv.com).

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Introduction to the Gaming Industry DID YOU KNOW? Did you know that Namco created Pac-Man, which became the most popular arcade game of all time?

Did you know Midway, not Namco, created Ms. Pac-Man, also a huge hit?

Did you know Gumpei Yokoi was the inventor of three game platforms: Game Boy,Virtual Boy, and WonderSwan?

Did you know that the Toshiba/Sony 250MHz microprocessor, dubbed the Emotion Engine, is the brains behind the PlayStation 2?

Did you know that the XBox is equipped with an Intel 733MHz Pentium III CPU, an Nvidia NV2a 250MHz graphics processor, 64MB of unified RAM, and an 8GB hard drive?

Did you know Nintendo almost used the name Dolphin, then Starcube, before settling on GameCube?

Did you know that Capcom’s Street Fighter brought new life to the arcade business?

Did you know that Atari’s Battlezone was the first video game to be used for military training?

Did you know that Defender was a pinball manufacturer’s first video game and that the game designer was Eugene Jarvis?

Did you know that Nintendo Artist Shigeru Miyamoto created Donkey Kong?

Did you know that Mario by Nintendo was originally named Jumpman?

FROM THE EXPERT GAME GENRES “Not all games fit neatly into How and why a game is made is always different. Some games start as one per- one genre or another, even son’s idea. Other games come about because the owner of a license or intellec- though they seem like they do on first glance. A game like tual property wants a game created. Some games are sequels, expansions, or Giants: Citizen Kabuto, was improvements on a previously successful game. Take a stroll through your local predominately a third person store and, needless to say, there are a wide variety of games on the market. Some shooter, but also had elements work better on a PC; whereas, others execute best on a console. of a real-time strategy game. The elements seemed to have been included to make a more Action interesting experience for Equally popular on PCs as well as consoles, action games such as Tsunami 2265 people who play shooters, versus trying to make a hybrid (Got Game Entertainment) and Max Payne (Gathering of Developers) are gen- game that appealed also to erally fast paced and require skill and reaction time to win. strategy game players.This is in contrast to a game like Battlezone, which was specifi- Strategy cally designed as an Action / This type of game dominates the PC world and is not popular on consoles. Strategy hybrid.This game Most of these games come from classic board games. Examples of strategy games specifically tries to maintain enough aspects of both to be include Age of Empires (Microsoft) and Civilization (Microprose). appealing to both audiences.”

– Troy Dunniway, Head of Game Design for Microsoft

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Sports Role Playing Games (RPGs) These are considered the most difficult type of game to design due to the number of characters required, the depth of plot, and necessary the art assets. These games have their roots in classic paper games like Dungeons and Dragons. RPGs are usually games about character building, exploration, and adventure. The hottest trend right now with RPGs is online games that allow thousands of people to play simultaneously.

www.microprose.com Adventure This type of game dominates the PC world and is not popular on consoles. Typically, these games require a player to navigate through a world, interact with people, explore, and solve puzzles. Adventure games are slow paced and depend heavily on the skill level of the player for advancement or success. Examples include The Watchmaker (Got Game Entertainment) and Escape from Monkey Island (LucasArts).

Puzzles This type of game dominates the PC, PDA, and mobile phone worlds and is not popular on consoles. Most are short, simple games like Tetris.

Sports This type of game—such as football, basketball, soccer, and so on—dominate the console platforms. There is a wide variety of sports games on the market, in fact, almost any sport you can imagine. It is interesting to note that although sports games are easier to design, they are more complex to develop. www.tetris.com

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Introduction to the Gaming Industry Simulations There are two main kinds of simulation games: flight or driving simulators and SimCity-type games. The former are games that allow the players to feel like they are flying or driving; and the latter, SimCity-type games, allow players to create an environment and see how it behaves.

Kids, Family, and Edutainment These types of games dominate the PC market. These are broad appeal mass- market games like You Don’t Know Jack or simple adventure games geared towards children like Tony Tough.

Hybrids These types of games dominate console platforms, but are also available on PC. These can include action/adventure, action/strategy, and action/RPGs. If you’ve played Outcast (Infogrames), you’ve played a hybrid.

INDUSTRY STRUCTURE Within the game industry, you find three different kinds of key businesses: publishers, developers, and hardware manufacturers. These days, most publishers have their own in-house development teams, however the majority of companies developing games are still small, independent studios. Let’s look a little closer at these key businesses.

Publishers Publishers are responsible for bringing games to the distribution channels by funding development of an original, licensed, or conversion title, then oversee- ing that development. They also handle marketing, sales, duplication, and pack- aging of the game. Publishers usually pay the development studios an advance against future royalties, based on achieved milestones to cover development costs. As the game is sold and the publisher recoups its investment, the development studio begins to receive additional royalty payments.

Developers Development studios create original content, licensed content, or conversions, also known as ports. An original game is based on an original concept. Most original games are created by independent developers who then seek funding and/or distribution by a publisher. Although publisher-owned development studios do create original games, most publishers prefer that original products, which are considered riskier because there is no built-in fan base, be developed by independent developers, also known as external third-party developers. A licensed product is a game based on an intellectual property like a major movie, cartoon, toy, book, TV show, and so on. A conversion or ported game is a game that has been created on one format and then is ported or copied to another. To sell as many games as possible, most games are ported to as many platforms as 12 03_3073 CH01 9/3/02 1:30 PM Page 13

Game Development Process

possible. Development studios can be small or large, and they may create products for a variety of publishers on a variety of platforms. Third-party developers may also specialize in specific genres or on a particular product line.

Hardware Manufacturers Hardware manufacturers are the companies that build and sell the game machines also known as consoles or platforms. Currently, the PC enjoys a deep market share, but it presents some issues with compatibility and configuration because PCs are “open” systems. That is, an owner of a PC can, and often does, alter the standard manufacturer’s configuration settings. You alter these settings by simply installing new software, printer, graphics, or sound cards. This com- pounds the challenge of ensuring the game will work correctly when loaded. Console systems offer a solution to this problem but have their own pros and cons. Nevertheless, on the pro-side, closed systems use proprietary technology, with strict definitions. This means that the owner of the machine cannot do much to alter the system and, therefore, less compatibility and configuration issues arise for the developer. Unlike other industries, hardware manufacturers in the game industry take a very active role in software development and even the publishing process.

GAME DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Concept Before getting into the details of the game development process, let’s look at a 30,000 ft. view: Story A game begins its life as an idea or concept, which is then expanded into a full- fledged story by the Game Designer. The Designer creates a detailed design doc- Design document ument that describes all the games features. The document not only covers a description of the game play, but also the visual and audio style, including examples. Scheduling and Task list In some companies, the Game Designer also acts as Producer; whereas in other companies, the Game Designer is focused solely on fleshing out new treatments Prototype or concepts. The Project Manager or Producer is assigned to the project to produce a task list and schedule for the development of the game. This person man- Funding ages budgets and ensures the creative intent of the game is maintained

throughout the development process. Programming and asset creation After a design is complete, the development team usually prototypes the game before jumping immediately into full development. The aim is to develop a Testing working prototype of the game that shows that the design concepts are sound. This is also done so the development studio has a demonstration, or demo, of Manufacturing its game idea to show publishers when seeking funding. If the idea is a flop, there is no need to spend additional time and money. Marketing After the game concept gets purchased or funded, the writing of the game’s programming code and creation of the game’s assets, such as art and sound effects, Overview of a game’s life cycle.

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Introduction to the Gaming Industry gets serious. This process takes several months to complete. During these months, the various departments work on their portion of the game, which are ultimately combined or linked together to create the finished game. Generally speaking, the Producer oversees and manages this entire process. This person has a tough job making sure all the highly creative Artists, Programmers, Game Designers, and other team members play nicely in the sandbox, while keeping the creative vision of the product consistent. Additionally, the Producer communicates to the development studio’s management and the publisher the progress and problems during the development cycle. After all of the game’s assets have been linked together, the game is tested for errors, or bugs. The game’s playability is also reviewed and tweaked as needed to ensure the end-user has a smooth experience when playing the game. This is known as the testing and tuning of the game. If the game is intended for one of the game consoles, the hardware manufacturer gets involved in the testing and approval of the game. The manufacturer knows its own closed proprietary operating systems and wants to ensure the game performs flawlessly and consistently on the platform. This approval process takes place before being sent to the duplicator for manufacturing. Products developed for the PC do not need this type of approval as these computers are not proprietary. After the game is manufactured, the hardware manufacturer begins the marketing process to build awareness of the product so consumers are interested in pur- chase. Independent development studios may choose to only use a publisher for product distribution. In fact, many development studios can and do fund and market their own games. Obviously, in these kinds of agreements, the third- party developer gets a much higher cut of the profits because it takes on more of the risk. Months prior to the game’s street release, the sales and marketing folks employed by the publisher, the development studio, or an independent sales/marketing company, focus on “selling” the retail community on the game. Sell sheets, screen shots, and product description information are created to highlight elements in the game and excite the retailer and consumer. When the game hits the market and is available for sale, you want a presence for it. It’s hard to generalize this process because there are several options available for getting the game on the store shelves. Basically, it costs a lot of money to have an inter- nal marketing and sales staff, but, at some point, a company grows large enough that it makes financial sense for them to bring these functions in-house. Typically, smaller development studios prefer to utilize the hardware manufacturer’s distribution strength or the strength of an independent sales and marketing organization. It’s hard for a single, small company to get the attention of the major retailers such as Wal-Mart, CompUSA, and Electronics Boutique. After the game is out on the shelves, of course, the players take over. And, hope- fully, all the hard work and talent that went into the game pays off.

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Chapter 2 Common Tools of the Trade

Having working knowledge of the following frequently required programs will ensure success in your game industry career. This chapter describes the most common software used by the games industry.

BUSINESS APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE Having basic working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel is not going to cut it in the game industry. Work yourself through the tutorials of these products and learn them cold. Knowing Word and Excel is important for any game industry career. Will Wright, Legendary Game Designer, Co-Founder of EA/Maxis, and man behind SimCity and The Sims Series, actually uses Excel for prototyping simulations. He can change economic conditions in his Sims world and watch the economy react. If you just think Excel is limited for use by accountants as a spreadsheet, you don’t know Excel well enough. The same is true for Microsoft Word. Sure it’s a word processor, but it has much more functionality than just being used as a old fashioned typewriter. Learn these products well! It is also a great idea to learn Microsoft Project. Project allows you to create a database of easily sorted information for a group undertaking. You can group, sort, and filter your data based on the specific needs of your development project. As for database software, having working knowledge of FileMaker Pro is a great idea. 04_3073 CH02 9/3/02 1:35 PM Page 16

Common Tools of the Trade PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES Even if your career goal has nothing to do with programming, if you work for a game company, you will have to interface with the programming staff. Obviously, if you’re a Programmer, you must know C and C++, but this will also help you in any game industry career. It is a given that you should know how to code in C, C++, Visual Basic, and Java. These are by no means the only languages that exist, simply the more common ones.

C C is the lowest level of the high-level languages. Being a more structured language makes it easier in which to program, but it is still fairly fast and well-suited to programming on the gaming consoles. It’s the primary language used to program Sony PlayStation and other games. C is considered a high-level language because it makes a layer between the Assembly level instructions and the syntax of the C language. This sort of abstraction allows for more work to be done in a smaller amount of code and, quite frankly, less code is best for everyone. C is an important language to at least be familiar with, as it has been used for almost 30 years. There are a considerable number of coding tools that have been written in C. Here’s an example of C code:

Printf(“(“Hello World” “ \n);

C++ An extension of the original C language, C++ uses a different structure and is known as an object-oriented programming language. Used to program application software, C++ is an improvement on C because it allows for better organization of an application’s design. At one time, developers believed C++ was too slow for video game applications; however, with the advent of better hardware and cheaper RAM, the benefits gained by utilizing C++ rather than C are expo- nential. That is, C++ allows the Programmer better control access to the data in a program, which makes it a lot easier to control as well as debug. Today, C++ is considered by many to be the most important language to know for game development. Here’s an example of C++ code:

Ship.GetX(*ship); Cout>> “”The stuff we want is over here”;”;

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Assembly Visual Basic A programming language created by Microsoft, Visual Basic is also a high-level language, typically used in web and database application development. As the name suggests, Visual Basic is mostly done within a visual medium. Objects like checkboxes and windows can be made in a relatively quick way. This tends to speed up the overall time it takes to develop a game. Here’s an example of Visual Basic code:

Public Sub Main() Send CGI_CONTENT_TYPE_TEXT_HTML Send vbCrLf Send “Hello World!” End Sub

Java A programming language invented by Sun Microsystems, Java is an object- oriented language very similar to C++. Java is most widely known for its platform independence, which means that a program written on a PC can run on a Mac or anywhere Java is designed to run. This saves the Programmer time port- ing or transferring a program from one platform to another. FROM THE EXPERT Here’s an example of Java code: “Knowing how to program is System.out.println(“(“Why is this Java code”);”); essential to creating a video game. If you do not know how to program yet, put the thought of making games out of your mind Assembly and concentrate on learning the Assembly is a “fast language” used in many of the gaming systems including fundamentals of computer pro- Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment gramming.You can create games System (SNES), Game Boy, SEGA’s Saturn and Genesis, even Pocket PCs and on your own with Visual Basic, and if you really want a job, you’ll N64 utilize Assembly techniques. Assembly is great for solving specific problems need to know C and C++.” that are speed critical. It’s the faster way to do things because other languages act as buffer layers to the Assembly instructions. Because Assembly talks directly to – Dustin Clingman, Professor of Game Development, Full Sail Real the instructions for the processor, it’s called a low-level language. Assembly is still World Education, and Founder of used in newer generation consoles and embedded devices because of its speed. Perpetual Motion There are several different variations of the assembly language: 80x86 or i86 Intel-based Assembly 68000 Apple computer-based Assembly (Macintosh and so on) Z80 Used to program Nintendo Game Boy games SH-2 Used in SEGA Saturn. Utilizes a dual processor configuration ASM Used for Game Boy Advanced MIPS Used for Pocket PC games 17 04_3073 CH02 9/3/02 1:35 PM Page 18

Common Tools of the Trade

Here’s an example of Assembly code:

.model small .stack .data message db “”Hello world, This sure can be ugly code.” .” “$”.code main proc mov ax,seg message mov ds,ax mov ah,09 lea dx,message int 21h mov ax,4c00h int 21h main endp end main

3D: ANIMATION AND MODELING SOFTWARE Getting an art job in the game industry also requires experience with at least one software program such as 3D Studio MAX, a 3D animation and modeling software package by Discreet. Other frequently required programs include Alias|Wavefront Maya, NewTek LightWave, Bones Pro (a skeletal deformation plug-in), Caligari trueSpace, Character Studio, and Avid SoftImage. Although less well known, many industry pros also highly recommend Mirai. In short, all of these toolsets are worthy of every Artists’ attention as they each have brought many wonderful new methods for generating characters, worlds, and effects for the game development industry. However, with the new game consoles and enhanced PCs bringing greater graphics capabilities and performance to our industry, Maya’s enhanced character animation capabilities and new world-building features may well serve future product cycles with a higher production value and quality aesthetic. Ultimately, the choice of art tools relies on the comfort and productivity of the Artist , the cost of setup and training on the package, and the goals of the particular development house. If an Artist has decided on a company, or particular title/genre, that he wants to work on, he should research the software being utilized in the development of that project and by that team, and decide on which to pursue and master. By scanning job boards and employment ads in the game industry, the aspiring Artists will be able to judge best which packages are most prevalent in the industry, and thereby, decide on which to pursue and master.

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LightWave by NewTek 3D Studio Max by Discreet The large installed base of 3D Studio Max places this package in the unique market position to remain as the de facto standard for many game production groups. 3DSMax continues to add many features, which enhance the Game Artists’ toolset and productivity, including many world-building utilities and character modeling and animation enhancements. Many consider this tool a premier 3D content creation tool for the next generation game consoles such as XBox and PS2. For more information, visit http://www.discreet.com/products/3dsmax and find your local 3DSMax User Group.

Maya by Alias|Wavefront FROM THE EXPERT Maya has come on strong in recent versions, with character animation tools that “For price and performance, have surpassed all others in many professionals’ opinions. Maya gives the Artist Maya, in my opinion, is the state-of-the-art controls and a flexibility to adapt its environment for many dif- strongest all around gamer Artist’s tool. It allows a user to fering animation and modeling projects. create all the necessary 3D ele- For more information, visit http://www.aliaswavefront.com/. ments for a game without the use of plug-ins or other packages.The animation and dynam- SoftImage by Avid ics tools are strong, the texture editor is the best I’ve seen, and SoftImage has been the standard toolset for top quality character animation for the modeling tools are also years and has included many game specific enhancements to its system. The strong.While I find it does have a installed base is not as prevalent as 3DSMax, but many developers have worked weak renderer and the poly with, and continue to work with, this package. For more information, visit modeling tools are not a particular favorite, I still feel it the best www.softimage.com. overall value for gamers. And, if budget is an issue, Maya (believe it or not) is usually the least LightWave by NewTek expensive tool to learn to use, if NewTek’s LightWave includes two models: the Modeler and Layout modules only because plug-ins are not provide the 3D Artist with one of the more powerful off-the-shelf solutions for required.”

animation and modeling. Many recent television and motion picture produc- - Andrew Paquette, Former tions have used LightWave for visual effects (Babylon5, Titanic, and others) and, Director of Art, Sony Pictures in an increasing trend, the entire content has been created within the package Imageworks (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius). Many Modelers and game Developers swear by LightWave as the best available polygon modeler. LightWave 3D includes many of the tools that other packages require to be purchased separately, such as soft- body dynamics, particles, hair, fur, and unlimited render nodes. For more information, visit www.newtek.com.

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Common Tools of the Trade

Based on the old Symbolics code and for various reasons, Mirai has gone through several incar- nations at different companies. It’s been known as Symbolics, ArkGeometry, TripleI, Del Rey Graphics, Nichimen, Mirai, and possibly, Winged Edge. Now under IZWare, Mirai comes with a deep tool set and also allows you to work on multiple objects in multiple windows simultaneously, switching back and forth at will and having your changes updated instantly. For more information, visit www.izware.com/mirai.

LightWave is just one example of the great 3D 2D: BITMAP AND VECTOR-BASED GRAPHICS programs on the market. SOFTWARE There are several packages an aspiring Game Artist should learn to work with as FROM THE EXPERT each has a separate purpose in the art production pipeline; and dependent on “As for poly-modelers, Mirai is the project’s goals, each is necessary for the successful completion of asset devel- my hands-down favorite. Its opment. Artists need to be comfortable working with both vector-based and strength is in its simplicity.The bitmap graphics programs. display is very easy to read, reducing eyestrain—I’ve never had to work in more than one Adobe Photoshop and Others window at a time. It’s a solid modeler, and it has some very Certainly, every Game Artist should be comfortable with Adobe Photoshop, the interesting animation tools, an standard 2D art tool for the majority of development groups. embedded (free) 3DPaint program with terrific brushes and Dependent upon the style of the production aesthetic, Painter may be used to brush filters, and an excellent generate assets with a more traditional art method presentation. game-specific export format for all of the major consoles. Right Hemisphere’s Deep Paint/Deep Paint 3D with Texture Weapons also Mirai is probably the best-kept expands on traditional art styles, with a strong focus on texturing. secret of several studios….” Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere are more appropriate for pre-rendered - Andrew Paquette, Former asset creation and editing. And Debabilizer Pro is utilized for batching art asset Director of Art, Sony Pictures edits, format, and/or palette adjustments. Imageworks

FROM THE EXPERT Adobe Illustrator “The ultimate 2D skill? The skill Illustrator is also considered by many industry insiders to be an invaluable tool I value most in Artists is the and something of an industry secret weapon. This software can be utilized to ability to draw.” create custom spline shapes, which then can be imported into the 3D software - Murray Taylor, Studio packages noted previously and serve as modeling splines. Head/Worldwide Art Director, Infogrames 20 05_Parts II 9/3/02 1:36 PM Page 21 05_Parts II 9/3/02 1:36 PM Page 22

Chapter Name

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Head From Bottom of Page Part II Careers in Gaming Images courtesy of Mary Degnan

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Chapter 3 Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA)

Do you love computer games passionately? Do you live for them? Like nothing better in the world than playing and talking about them? Then here is the job for you! In this chapter, we cover the various careers available in game testing and Quality Assurance (QA), along with the tools of the trade. We also cover how to get into the position you want. 06_3073 CH03 9/3/02 1:38 PM Page 26

Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) FROM THE EXPERT TESTING VERSUS QA “The Testing and QA depart- One of the best ways to establish a game industry career is by starting as a ment usually contains the Playability Tester or Quality Assurance Technician. Testing and QA are often highest ratio of ‘gamers’ in a confused; a good start is understanding the differences and the types, which we game company.They are the ones who sit and test games cover in the following sections. all day—many go home and play games all night.” Beta Tester – Ray Boylan,Worldwide To do a playability test, you usually send out Beta copies of the game and elicit Director QA, Mattel feedback via the Internet or bring in temporary playability testers and observe them while they use the product. Beta testing is a volunteer job that can be done FROM THE EXPERT on your own time, at home or work—wherever you have Internet access. This “When I review a stack of is the easiest way to gain game industry experience. Beta Testers are typically resumes for hiring temporary people who are not paid by the company to test the game but, rather, do it just in-house staff, I look for who is for the pure fun of it. highlighting their gaming skills either by listing the Although Beta testing has become more popular, the industry still favors in- games they play or by going house testers. The ability to observe tester reactions—verbally, physically, and the extra mile by participating emotionally—to the game play experience provides invaluable information, not in Beta Testing.” only for the marketing folks, but also for the Producer, the Game Designer, and – Evan Birkby, Manager of the Artists. Playability Testers also provide immeasurably valuable feedback to Quality Assurance, Electronic Arts Customer Service in the form of FAQ files and workarounds.

Playability Testing See Mom, I told you I wasn’t wasting time! Playability Testers are people who get paid to sit around all day long and test games with the goal of uncovering and researching the cause of as many defects as possible so they can be corrected. Playability testing is a very important function. A game is designed to provide the player with an “experience,” and playability testing ensures the game is put into the hands of actual game players for feedback. Is the game fun? How does it compare to similar games created in the past? What features might you improve, add, or delete? The “fun factor” is what game design and development is built around, and there are no better judges of this aspect of game development than the testers. This is why game companies choose to hire the bulk of their play tester staff on temporary assignment. Typically, the playability testing department posts open- ings for temporary testers on their company web-site, local Internet gaming sites, with temporary employment agencies, or on college job boards. A playability testing department usually consists of one to four full-time, paid employees running a staff of one to thirty temporary testers. The size of the temporary team depends on where the game is in its development cycle and how complex the game is to play. In larger environments, there is more than one

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Black Box Testing Versus White Box Testing project, in which case, scheduling the amount of testers on each project based on where the projects are individually in the test cycle is critical. On a regular basis, you will find every department manager and every executive level person within a game company casually walking around the testing lab. You will even find the president of the company hanging around. These people spend serious time in the testing lab and they listen. They listen to the testers to derive and implement new features. They seek ideas on how to improve game play. They want opinions like, “I think the game is boring because…” Playability testing is an important function and provides much more information than just what bugs or defects can be found. Ready for an industry secret? A playability testing job provides a strong platform from which to grow your career. Just think, all those department heads with the power to hire visiting your corner of the company every day! Show your com- petence when performing as a temporary tester. Take advantage of the situation when a hiring manager walks by your testing station. Devise a way to demonstrate good verbal, written, or creative skills. If you’re testing a new game and the Art Director wants to explore your reaction to the art’s quality, take the opportunity to show your own artwork. Create images specifically suitable for the game you are testing. Show a new level design to the Game Designer. This is how you get positive attention and eventually hired when a position opens. It’s easy to walk yourself right into any game industry career, but as reit- erated throughout this book, you must have a focused plan of action in place. The playability testing department provides you with face-to-face contact with game industry people with whom you can develop a mentoring relationship, or use to network yourself into a new job. (QA is to the gaming industry what the mailroom was to corporate America: access.) From the testing department, you can get into QA, Artist, Programmer, Game Designer, Marketing, or any game industry profession. Like an internship in the film industry, however, you are earning your way into a career, and the work functions you perform in the beginning are less than glamorous. But, as you gain respect and experience and as you develop an expertise, your career will blossom! Just keep in mind that there will be a period of low pay as you work yourself from an hourly playability tester into a full-time salaried employee.

Black Box Testing Versus White Box Testing Black Box testing, essentially, is as the term implies. You don’t see what is inside the box. You’re reviewing a final product and paying attention to what does work or doesn’t work from a user/player standpoint. Often, in Black Box testing, a tester has no idea what is wrong with the game, other than something doesn’t work. For example, a tester could be working with a new first-person shooter. During testing, it is discovered that when you select the third weapon, the gun fires incorrectly. Or the airplane does not bank the way it’s supposed to. Or the story doesn’t progress to the next mission and it crashes. Good testers are adept at tracing the steps necessary to recreate the bug, thereby providing invaluable insight into a possible fix. 27 06_3073 CH03 9/3/02 1:38 PM Page 28

Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) White Box testing, on the other hand, is akin to pulling the lid off the box. You can look inside and see what contents are there. White Box testing is often referred to as QA Engineering. A QA Engineer is someone who reads the code and says, “I see some bugs here in the code.” A QA engineer runs the game with the debugger turned on and finds code errors. The QA Engineer often has access to the programmer or mission scripter who wrote the code and can show the appropriate individual where there is a code error. On occasion, the QA Engineer may fix problems directly, as well. A QA Engineer also utilizes a scripting language to create a script to test a game. For example, a QA Engineer looks at the programming logic and sees if it’s correct. Often, the White Box person is the back end of Black Box testing—the flow of information is critical to making it all work.

Quality Assurance Establishing standards and procedures for the development of a game is critical, as this provides the framework from which the software evolves. The QA function is one of process monitoring, product evaluation, and auditing. For example, QA is concerned with documentation and design standards, which specify the form and content of the game. They provide rules and methods for trans- lating the software requirements into the software design. QA is also concerned with code standards, which specify the language in which the code is to be written and define any restrictions on use of language features (define legal language structures, style conventions, rules for data structures and interfaces, and so on). QA is about final analysis. You’re looking at the final product and saying, “Does this pass the requirements we have in the company?” Most often, both a publisher and a third-party development studio have their own respective QA and testing departments. The actual testing that is done at both facilities is often identical. However, from a developer standpoint, you have people testing at a lower level, actually looking at code and repairing it. The main focus here is rooting out as many bugs or software defects as possible. Because the publisher must give the final stamp of approval, it evaluates a product from the standpoint that it wants to ensure the game meets expectations. The focus here is whether the development team met its contractual agreement to deliver this milestone. The publisher tests the game to determine if the portion of the game it is reviewing meets the requirements of the development contract. If the answer is yes, the developer is awarded more funds to go to the next development phase of the project. Again, QA tries to test to a standard. That is, by saying, “to achieve an Alpha status or to achieve a Beta status or to achieve a Gold master status, you must have these various areas working.” So, the publisher tests to see if you’ve met the respective goal. Actually, both test teams test to see if you’ve met the respective goal. The publisher QA is different in two significant ways: • It is a final pass organization as opposed to an on-going test, so they only spend a specified time period with each product during each milestone as opposed to continuously testing the product. 28 06_3073 CH03 9/4/02 1:45 PM Page 29

Alpha Cycles

• The QA group is often given approval authority, which means the product will pass or fail a milestone based on the QA report.

Often, a large publisher has separate test teams to cover both the continual test process and the QA process. The publisher assigns one team to the developer’s product for the bulk of testing and an additional specific QA group just for milestone acceptance tests. QA teams often are further broken down into QA that focuses on system standards, compatibility, and playability, or fun factor. A system standards group is concerned with general requirements for all products for a specific system, such as how the controller buttons are defined, how the memory cards will be addressed, or that copyright and company logos are properly displayed. Compatibility testing focuses on the hardware issues and is primarily concerned with PC products. These testers check memory configurations, video cards, sound cards, and joystick or controller support. The playability group often is in charge of running focus groups or taking care of large scale Beta tests.

Alpha Cycles The following list describes the Alpha criteria: • At least one path is playable from the beginning to end of the game and QA can navigate that path to the finish. • All the major features exist and can be tested. Some may still be in modules for QA purposes. • Primary language text is final. • Basic interface is complete and preliminary documentation for QA is available. • Game is compatible with most specified hardware and software configurations. • Game will run on minimum system requirements. • Game logic is implemented. • Most controllers work. • The game runs on target media and is available on the distribution media. • Final or placeholder art is in for all areas of the game. • Placeholder audio is in the game. • Multi-player functionality can be tested. • Installer is specified and a preliminary version can be tested. • A draft of the manual is available.

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Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) The following list describes the Alpha objectives: • By the end of Alpha, test all modules in the product, at least once. • Create a bug database and test plan. • Record bugs and performance results.

Beta Cycles The following list describes the Beta criteria: • All features and options are implemented. • All language version text is implemented and ready for simultaneous release. • QA can navigate entire game on all paths. All bugs that close areas of game to testing are gone. • Entire user interface is final. • Game is compatible with all specified hardware and software configurations. • Game will run on minimum system requirements. • Game logic is final. • All controllers work. • The game runs on target media and is available on the distribution media. • Final artwork for screen shots, including credits, animation, and movies are in. Game copyrights and trademarks are in the software. • Final audio is in the game. • Installer is integrated, and any needed drivers are automatically installed. • A complete manual is available.

Note that release-level performance on the minimum machine is not required at Beta entry but must be achieved by the end of Beta. The following list describes the Beta objectives: • Isolate all significant bugs and performance problems. • Complete testing, bug fixing, and performance tuning. • Complete install testing. • Test on the full range of supported platforms.

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Traditional Software QA versus Games QA Release (Gold) Cycles The following list describes the release (Gold) criteria: • Senior management has reviewed the product and bugbase and agrees that it is ready for final test. • Install is complete and ready for release. • All activities, functions, and content are complete and ready for release including graphics, sound, and video. • Performance is appropriate for release. • Online user documentation is complete, accurate, and ready for release. • All known Severity 1 bugs (crashes, hangs, major function failures) are fixed. • 95 percent of all known Severity 2 bugs fixed, 90 percent of all known Severity 3 bugs fixed (can be circumvented by a consensus of senior management). • Open Severity 2 bugs have a work-around, described in the Readme file. • Product is ready for release on all supported platforms.

Traditional Software QA Versus Games QA All QA, game software or otherwise, is similar in the sense that the focus is to try to find problems. The idea is that you’re trying to find errors in the code. For every hundred lines of code, there’s usually something wrong with it somewhere, and any type of bug can potentially affect the consumer. Given this, a tester must really do two things at the same time: • Represent the consumer by addressing if-I-were-a-consumer-what-would- I-look-for type of issues, which sets the standard for trying to make the game meet the requirements of the user. • Help the developers find the bugs so they don’t have to spend the time doing it themselves. After all, the development team is a customer of the QA department.

Of primary importance is communication between the QA team and development team. Each must be in agreement as to the design document and features that make up the game. Each must also be aware as to what version or build of the game is in test. Both teams have to be on the same page. With regard to game testing versus testing in a non-game environment, the big difference is that with a game you’re concerned with sound, graphics, and game logic issues, not to mention the subject matter itself of the game; whereas, non- game testing tends to be just make sure the tables are correct. It is very test- and data- oriented, making sure that the data has integrity. There are some other issues that also make game testing more of a challenge. 31 06_3073 CH03 9/3/02 1:38 PM Page 32

Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) Non-game testing usually lets you access the entire product. In other words, you can look at any aspect of the product and test any aspect of the product as needed. With a database program, for example, nothing keeps you from a particular area of the database. With a game, on the other hand, you cannot get to certain areas of the product until you complete a level or until you reach a certain score. Therefore, certain aspects of the game cannot be easily tested until a certain goal is achieved. You must work your way through the software, because you don’t have immediate access to the entire product. For example, in an adventure game, you must expect some pathing. There is a lot of pathing in computer games, which means “if I do this, then I can do this, and then I can do this.” You must ensure all of those paths or links work. The biggest difference in game versus business application testing is that the business application has strict parameters and right and wrong results. Game testing has expected results but there are many paths and approaches to them.

Automated Testing for Games Unlike traditional software products, game products don’t usually behave in the same manner twice. Traditionally, business software like databases, word proces- sors, and spreadsheets, are designed and coded in a linear fashion. Simply defined, this means the user has only a few logical paths or options to perform functions. Because traditional business software is fairly predictable in how it will behave, it is possible to automate a majority of the testing functions. A game, however, is not designed this way. The software is actually designed to challenge the user. Access to other portions of the software is granted depend- ing on the user’s choices or actions. This is not very linear as there are so many options a player can choose. This is why, to date, use of automated testing techniques utilized for traditional software development has not been very effective. Automated testing is also not as feasible for games due to the short development cycle of games. The average game takes 18 months to develop versus traditional software, which averages a 30-month development cycle. The amount of time it takes to develop the automated test often doesn’t justify the benefit from it. Automated testing is more financially attractive the longer the product development cycle. Another reason automated testing has not caught on in the gaming industry is that it is very hard to automate something when you have limited access to the entire product, as previously explained. It is very hard to get a sequence of events that will yield a successful result every single time, especially when any aspect of the game might change. Also, just to keep things interesting, games tend to have quite a bit of randomness going on. Without a predictable sequence of events, it’s very hard to have an automated script do anything for you. One solution to this problem has been the use of cheat codes. These codes are placed into the game so programmers and testers have access to areas of the game that require skill or time playing to actually get there. A game usually has some form of cheat code; otherwise, if you have a 20-level game and it takes five days to get to the 20th level, every time a new build is tested, it will take at least 32 06_3073 CH03 9/3/02 1:38 PM Page 33

Compatibility Tester

five days to get to the end of the game and test it. Lately, it has become more and more popular to actually leave these cheat codes within the final shipped product so that the marketing folks can hype them when advertising. Still, as game budgets increase, so will the time it takes to develop the product, and automated testing may become an affordable option in the future.

FAQ How do I find out what temp agency has this kind of contract with my fantasy game company?

You can contact the HR department at the company you are interested in and ask if they do any work with temp agencies.

Are there particular times of the year that are really good to try to get these contract work temp jobs?

It’s hard to say. About four or six months before Christmas is when most companies start to hiring a lot of temps because they’ve got Christmas releases and they’re trying to get their product out at the last minute. Also, any time prior to a big release schedule is a good time, but sometimes companies miss their schedule. It’s probably a really dry time right after Christmas, but it usually picks up again a couple of months after that.

TYPICAL JOB TITLES AND FOCUS In this section, we tackle the job titles available in both playability testing and Quality Assurance groups.

Temporary Playability Tester In this capacity, you’re playing a copy of a game that hasn’t been released to market yet. You may not even have the whole game, just a portion. For example, there may be thirty missions planned, but only five have been written so far. Initially, you play those first five missions and, eventually, you play the entire game. Not only are you asked what is fun about the product, but you’re also expected to find out what elements have not been completed yet and whether the completed levels are working properly. How well is the story being laid out for you? Do links between episodes function properly? Are proper objectives being scored? For a game that deals with any type of environment, you may be given a map of what the world is supposed to look like, and you are to compare the map of the plan to what is actually in the product. You must be very patient with the game. It breaks (a lot) and you document it. A temporary Playability Tester tends to do an awful lot of learning on the job. In this position, you can generally expect to earn $7.00 to $12.00 per hour. Work is typically contract or hourly and usually lasts four to six months.

Compatibility Tester Compatibility testing deals more with hardware compatibility than game functionality. This corresponds to the following questions: “Do the joysticks work?”, “Does the mouse control work?”, “Does the controller work?”, and “Are we

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Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) meeting the standards of the operating system?” In this job, you learn about different hardware and various video or sound cards. You’re an expert who knows what’s on the market, along with the pros and cons of each product. Having the ability to use the hottest selling sound card or mouse or console add-on device can directly affect sales of a product! For example, prior to the release of Stellar 7, it was the compatibility tester who had the wisdom to present a case to the development team. This new company had just released a sound card known as Sound Blaster. The tester researched the new hardware that used a new digital chip, but there was no support for this in any game. He convinced them to go ahead and put in digital support. Stellar 7 was the first game to actually use digital support for a Sound Blaster card, and this critical decision contributed heavily to the product’s sales. Obviously, this guy was promoted! In this position, you can generally expect to earn $12.00 to $20.00 per hour.

Lead Tester or Game Analyst Playability Testers who are hired as full-time salaried employees are usually given the title of Lead Tester. As a Lead Tester, or Lead, you are specifically assigned to a particular project. In this job, you look for 3D geometry or modeling errors. You make sure that the models look correct, are to proper scale, and that the tex- tures are properly applied. You look at the art of the game and make sure it is aesthetically pleasing and properly put together. You’re checking game logic. You test all kinds of different aspects. There are a huge variety of things within a game with which to concern yourself. The Lead’s most important function is to manage the data entry process of the Playability Testers who are reporting bugs. The information gets centralized and classified into the database. The Lead is responsible to ensure the Playability Testers are looking for bugs in the right sections of the product. The Lead is also responsible for determining if the bug discovered is important enough to be repaired or just noted. As a Lead, you must be able to summarize the status of your project at any time in both written and verbal form. In this position, you can generally expect to earn $14.00 to $20.00 per hour.

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Game Tester or Analyst

GAME TESTER OR ANALYST DESCRIPTION The primary function is to document, track, test, bug hunt, and research for the production team.

RESPONSIBILITIES – Assist the producer in day-to-day maintenance, organization, and management of the project (for example, help maintain the task and bug databases and so on). – Maintain daily builds; ensure that Artists have good builds with which to test assets. – Burn CDs as needed. – Do deliveries to and from the client, as needed. – Take meeting notes and distribute them within one day of meetings. – Assist with setting up and tracking equipment for the project. – Product testing. Perform, supervise, and document the testing and analysis of the game— including verification of all testables in commits and otherwise. Write test plans, including milestone acceptances, play tests, and focus tests. – Research Research and analyze competitive products, input findings in the appropriate database, and keep the team informed of key discoveries. Assist in locating and organizing reference materials for the team.

SKILLS – Ability to maintain project-related documents, schedules, lists, and so on, using commercial software (for example, Microsoft Office and FileMaker Pro). – Organization and communication. – Detail-oriented.

REQUIREMENTS Interest in and general knowledge of video games.

RELATIONSHIPS Reports to: Producer Supervises: Temporary Playability Testers Supervised by: Operations Director, Executive Producer, Lead Game Designer

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Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) Supervisor/Manager Some companies have a large enough playability group to also have a Supervisor/Manager. In this role, you are responsible for multiple projects. Most likely, you have several Lead Testers reporting to you. You manage a budget and interface with upper management to ensure products are developed in a timely manner. If the company has other development studios located in different areas, the Supervisor/Manager interfaces with these groups as well.

QA Engineer The primary function of this position is to find, accurately report, and verify fixes of bugs in software code. Your mission will be to proactively find and reproduce software flaws and design issues from Alpha through Final development stages of software. You will exercise your ability to document software flaws and design issues in a clear, detailed and objective manner. Your proactive attitude will prompt you to communicate pertinent information to other test team members. Verify that test plan and various checklists are accurate against the software. Expect to use your writing skills to produce instructional documents (walkthroughs) on an as-needed basis. You will perform hardware and compatibility testing along with other tasks as assigned. Here’s an example of a potential job listing: Successful candidate will have proven to execute the following: the ability to work effectively under severe time constraints, the ability to maintain focus in a distracting environment, the ability to maintain positive attitude throughout test project especially during “crunch” time, and the ability to work off-site at various development and production sites. The ideal candidate will have excellent strength in deductive and analytical skills, as well as strong interpersonal, written, and verbal skills. Must have at least one-year prior experience in a game-testing environment, with familiarity with bug databases essential. Responsibilities • Responsible for root cause analysis and implementing corrective action. • Perform records and oversight for review of completed work packages to ensure flow down of customer requirements. • Interface with customers to resolve quality issues and with outside vendors to ensure quality compliance.

Requirements • Related engineering degree. • Minimum two years experience in driving quality initiatives. • Outgoing, personable individual with innovative problem solving skills. • Expertise should include in-depth understanding of quality systems. 36 06_3073 CH03 9/3/02 1:38 PM Page 37

Know the Genre QA Supervisor/Manager or Director Although the titles depend on the size of the QA department, the primary objective is staffing each project with the right mix of play testing talent. Secondarily, the QA Manager needs to ensure that the information flow remains constant—and pertinent—to the goals of the project. Often, the QA Manager’s biggest obstacle is losing the best Playability Testers to the production department.

QA Supervisor/Manager or Director—Years Experience: 6-15 The primary function of the Quality Assurance Manager is to supervise, coor- dinate, and monitor all required Quality Assurance duties and responsibilities to ensure compliance with all company policies, customer specifications, and reg- ulatory requirements, if they exist. This person is also responsible for supervis- ing, training, scheduling, and monitoring the duties and activities of Quality Assurance personnel.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE There are a number of ways to get into a test department. Some people are lucky enough to qualify for a project just because they have a skill that specifically applies to the game being developed. For example, you might be a football player, so you could test a football game. You may know zilch about computer games, but you sure know football backwards and forwards. Or, perhaps you are a pilot who happens to also have F16 experience that would instantly qualify you to test flight simulation games like Falcon. The ability to speak Kanji or another foreign language can also instantly qualify. You could test the transla- tions for all the characters in the game.

College Knowledge If you are in college now and working on obtaining your Bachelor’s degree, one AUTHOR QUOTE great way to gain a little industry experience is to do playability testing. Ability “The single skill which ALL to code, utilize the common art tools, or knowledge of 3D modeling instantly game industry professionals qualifies you for the job. All types of skills apply. If you are trying to transition must possess is a passion for into the industry, Beta testing or playability testing jobs are a great way to start. playing video games!” - Marc Know the Genre Prior to working in a game company, you need to simply understand games. You need to understand how games generally behave and what might be considered acceptable or unacceptable. Usually, companies develop similar projects; so if you are targeting a specific game company, get experience playing older products developed by the same company. You also want exposure to as many similar types of games as possible. If you know a lot about computers and how the computer memory works or how video cards work, you might be hired as a Compatibility Tester. Having in-depth knowledge of a subject gives you an edge over other applicants competing for the same job.

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Playability Testing & Quality Assurance (QA) Strong Grammar and Writing Skills Being able to communicate clearly and concisely through the written word will help you in any career but, in the testing department, these skills can be utilized for proofreading the new manuals and making sure that they are written properly. You can even review the text within the game itself ensuring the use of proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Database Software The number one tool of any test organization is the database, so you should be comfortable with data entry into a database. Deep knowledge of any database product—FileMaker Pro, Act, Access, Outlook, Lotus Notes, or Goldmine—is good. Just find a database product you feel comfortable using and learn it cold. Read the manuals and do the tutorials. Although you can get by with only the basic skills and knowledge with most software, don’t do this with your database software. It is really the most important tool for your life, both personally and professionally. Used correctly, a database is like having a full-time personal assis- tant who reminds you of appointments, things to do, telephone calls to make, reports to write, or birthday gifts. Getting intimate with any database software will be the single best investment you can make for your career! Professional database software—Tracer, Alien Brain, and Dev Track—are specifically designed for testing, but you can create a testing database yourself. Obtaining a playability testing job will afford you access to one or two different QA databases that are used. Get very comfortable in data entry and using a bug database. For testing and QA, the database is a central repository for all the bugs. In your life, use a database as a central repository for all your personal and professional activities.

Know How to Create a Test Plan The second tool that is required is to understand the function of test plans. Any QA book lays out the basics of a test plan. You want to know how to construct test cases and lay out a descriptive test plan. With a test case, you create, essentially, a checklist for testing a portion of the game, itemizing each aspect or area that needs to be looked at. Then, you mark down the areas getting checked, clas- sifying the status of the product by how much of it has been tested and how much it is working. A descriptive test plan is a method for documenting the procedures describing how you’re going to test the game and access its various components. You need to be familiar with tables and charting so that you can show graphic results, or at least numerical results to the tests. You also want to track the find rate, which is how many bugs are being found versus how many bugs are being fixed, and, of course, the total number of bugs. For bugs you have yet to fix, keep track of how many are being found and how many are being fixed so you can predict when the actual bug count will get down to zero.

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Wrap-Up Microsoft Excel Having an Excel background is almost essential to testing, because Excel is used often to build test plans. If it is not used for test plans, at least some element of tables or charts or some elements of testing is often done with Excel. It is also important to know Microsoft Project and Microsoft Word.

Scripting Languages Python, Visual Basic, and JavaScript are the most popular scripting languages currently being used in the industry. Knowledge of any type of scripting language is useful. Some testers are given an opportunity to look at the scripting language in the product, which allows bugs to be identified more quickly and gives the a sort of White Box entry into the testing environment. The ability to read, repair, and use a scripting language is also part of the function for mission building and scenario development. This ability can also walk you into a game design or game art career.

Programming Languages FROM THE EXPERT Knowing how to code in C and/or C++ is a basic requirement of all game pro- “My best advice is to learn grammers. If this is your career goal, having coding experience will help you whatever you can about cod- transition here. Of course, you can initially use your coding skills in QA. ing. In QA, you have to inter- Having the ability to read and then repair game code is very valuable. face with Programmers. If you understand what Coders have to deal with, that’s helpful. If you don’t want to be a Compatibility Testing Programmer, at least get famil- This is a job for which you can immediately start training. Make a list of all the iar with terminology and the sound and video cards on the market. Research joy sticks, controllers, and any methodology behind pro- and all hardware devices that could be used for games. gramming.” – Ray Boylan,Worldwide WRAP-UP Director QA, Mattel Generally speaking, the testing department can be used to transition into any game industry career. Use the time you have wisely. Do your testing job, but work extra hours. Focus FROM THE EXPERT on developing whatever skills you are weak in that pertain to your dream game “G-force cards are pretty much job. Don’t know scripting or modeling packages? Learn them! Often the com- the dominant cards now so it puters used in the testing department are very high speed with plenty of mem- would make sense to be famil- ory. Because the game being tested does not consume that much of the resources iar with this product line.Visit the company web site to you have, a good idea is to take advantage of the situation and learn the tools begin research, review articles people in your area of career interest need to know to be successful. Take the ini- written about its performance tiative yourself! A rewarding and high paying career is not an accident. When against others. Start using a you interview successful people, they all laid out a plan to gain the experience database to organize this they needed to leverage themselves into another job. You can do the same! information.” – Evan Birkby, Manager of Quality Assurance, Electronic Arts

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